“Speaking of my little Nanshan, she really is very fortunate.
When she was born, she was so weak she seemed like a sickly sprout, and she was supposed to die.
But at that time, a great person happened to pass by and gave us a method to borrow life from the immortals.
He said to find a local deity’s temple, tie a red string between little Nanshan and the deity’s statue.
As long as the red string disappeared, it would mean the deity agreed to a bond, and naturally, it would grant her twenty years of life.”
“Twenty years isn’t enough, though! My daughter should live to be a hundred!
I thought, if tying a red string to one local deity could give twenty years, then if I find five temples and tie five red strings, wouldn’t that make her live to a hundred?
My wife and I discussed it, and directly prayed at four more temples…”
“Now, the midnight hour has passed, and little Nanshan’s twentieth birthday has passed, but look at her! Isn’t she still bouncing around? What does this mean?
It means my method worked! Five ties of fate, it’s just like five twenty years, she’ll live to a hundred!”
It was already deep into the night.
In a small courtyard with three low-roofed houses side by side, which would usually be peaceful by this time, there were now three bonfires lit.
Around each bonfire gathered a group of people, each wearing a light, tired smile.
Nanshan looked at her father, Sun Jin, sitting by one of the bonfires, drinking while chatting with relatives and neighbors about trivial matters.
When he got excited, he even waved the wine pot in his hand, which was chipped and worn.
Nanshan felt a bit helpless.
“Dad, drink a little less!” she called out loudly.
The old man holding the wine pot glared at her, “Today I’m happy, you’re not allowed to stop me!”
“Exactly, your father is happy for you, and everyone else is happy for you.
Little Nanshan, don’t ruin the mood!” Her third uncle, who was drunk, chimed in.
Even the village’s most conservative second uncle nodded in agreement.
Nanshan squinted her eyes, “You’re getting old and still drinking so much. Do you believe I’ll tell third aunt and second aunt?”
Little Nanshan’s knack for tattling was well-known to the uncles and aunts, so when she said that, everyone would usually scatter quickly.
But today…
“It’s already late, your third aunt and uncle are asleep. If you’re going to complain, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” her third uncle said proudly as he took a sip of wine, his face even redder in the firelight.
“Unless you go to my house now and wake your aunt up from bed.”
Nanshan could never wake her sickly third aunt, so hearing this, she stomped her foot in anger, turned, and ran into the kitchen to find her mother.
“Mom! Dad’s been drinking so much, his face is all red!”
“I’ll deal with him in a moment,” Liu Jin Hua, who had been warming herself by the stove, paused for a second and absent-mindedly responded.
Nanshan hurried, “Don’t wait! If you wait any longer, he’ll drink himself to death!”
“Don’t rush, wait until your uncles leave, then it’s not too late to deal with him,” Liu Jin Hua handed her a warm baked potato.
“Why’s this so cold? Go put on more clothes.”
“How can that be?” Nanshan stuffed the potato into her pocket.
As she was about to finish speaking, she noticed the worry on her mother’s face.
“Mom, what’s bothering you?”
Seeing her mother’s mood was off, Nanshan couldn’t care about her drunk father anymore.
She pulled a small stool and sat down next to Liu Jin Hua’s knees.
Liu Jin Hua snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at her precious daughter, who she had cherished all these years.
The fire was burning brightly, and the golden light from the flames shone on Nanshan’s face, adding a golden glow to her already pretty features.
Liu Jin Hua couldn’t help but stroke her delicate face and smiled fondly.
“You’re so beautiful, I wonder who you take after.”
“I’m born from you, so of course, I take after you,” Nanshan said without thinking, then quickly added,
“But don’t change the subject, you still haven’t said what’s bothering you.”
“Nothing can be hidden from you.”
Liu Jin Hua gave her a weak glance and fell silent again.
Nanshan waited for a long time but didn’t get an answer.
Just when she was about to ask again, Liu Jin Hua finally spoke slowly, “You must have heard your father talk about tying the red strings to borrow life from the immortals, right?”
“Not just now, Dad talks about it every time he drinks,” Nanshan said with a pout, clearly used to it by now.
Liu Jin Hua let out a short laugh and then continued, “Then you should know that tying the red string with an immortal actually means making a marriage contract with the immortal.
To put it simply, tying the red string to five immortals is like making five marriage contracts, and this… this is a kind of deception.”
Finally, Nanshan understood what her mother was worried about and asked, “Are you afraid the immortals will blame us?”
“You were born with a defect, couldn’t even drink water, and were supposed to die soon.
For you to survive and grow to twenty, that’s already the heavens showing mercy on me and your father.
But your father and I…”
Liu Jin Hua’s voice trailed off as she remembered the past with some embarrassment.
“We were too young back then, and we couldn’t accept that you could only live for twenty years, so we came up with this foolish idea.”
Back then, tying the red string was a desperate attempt, but they never expected it to actually work.
Now, she was anxious about the deception.
This wasn’t just any deception, it was deceiving an immortal, and who knew what kind of retribution that might bring!
Liu Jin Hua became even more worried as she thought about this.
“If it wasn’t for the foolishness of your father and me, I would have died on my birthday yesterday. So don’t regret it.
As for those five red strings… sigh, the immortals were willing to lend us life because they pitied us and didn’t want our family to be separated.
Do you really think they liked me?”
Nanshan shook her hand away.
“Mom, think about it. If you were an immortal, would you want to marry me?”
Liu Jin Hua replied firmly, “Yes.”
Her answer was so quick that Nanshan found herself momentarily at a loss for words.
After a brief silence, Nanshan reminded her, “When we tied the red string, I was only two days old.
Third Aunt said I looked so small and thin, like a hairless monkey.”
“How ugly was she, for the immortals to have such poor eyesight to truly fancy her?”
Liu Jin Hua became more serious.
“You don’t understand. The uglier one is when they’re young, the more beautiful they become when they grow up.
The immortals have good taste. Otherwise, why would every one of them agree to the betrothal?”
“…Mom, are you sure?”
Nanshan was so choked by her mother’s bias that she couldn’t speak for most of the time.
After regaining her senses, she hummed and fussed, finally making Liu Jin Hua let go of her worries and smile again.
The night grew deeper, the bonfires in the yard gradually died down, and the relatives and neighbors left one by one.
Liu Jin Hua went to tidy up the yard, while Nanshan rolled up her sleeves and helped her father, Sun Jin, to the bed in the east room.
After taking off his shoes and covering him with a blanket, Nanshan brought him a bowl of water.
“Dad, drink some water.”
“I won’t drink it, what’s the point of drinking water so late at night?” Sun Jin muttered drunkenly.
Nanshan smiled.
“You’re drinking alcohol late at night, but you won’t drink water!”
“That’s different, it’s not the same, not the same…”
Watching him begin to get sleepy, Nanshan had no choice but to put the bowl down and turn to leave.
“Little Nanshan…” Sun Jin suddenly woke up.
“Hmm?”
Sun Jin mumbled something, but Nanshan couldn’t hear clearly, so she leaned closer.
“What?”
“Dad… Dad hasn’t made you longevity noodles yet…”
This time, Nanshan heard him clearly, and for a moment, she felt both angry and amused.
“You’re so drunk you don’t even know which way is up, and you’re still thinking about longevity noodles?”
“You have to eat them, it’s your birthday…”
“Alright, alright, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”
Nanshan, half-heartedly brushing off the drunk man, started to leave, but after only two steps, she heard him say something again.
She had no choice but to turn back.
“What did you say?”
“Wish… wish my little Nanshan longevity, longevity, longevity… Longevity like the mountains, worry-free for every year.”
Sun Jin struggled for a long time, finally finishing the sentence, then waited expectantly for praise from his precious daughter.
Nanshan was silent for a moment, then asked, “Such a literary phrase, you didn’t come up with that yourself, did you?”
“Your third aunt’s little son taught me.”
Father and daughter looked at each other for a moment and both smiled.
When Liu Jin Hua came in, she saw the father and daughter both grinning foolishly and immediately took a breath.
“I didn’t drink!” Nanshan quickly explained.
Liu Jin Hua finally felt relieved.
“But,” Nanshan immediately added, “Dad drank so much alcohol and still wouldn’t drink water. No matter how I tried to persuade him, he refused.”
Liu Jin Hua wasn’t as lenient with her husband.
With a single look, Sun Jin immediately sat up and grabbed the chipped porcelain bowl, drinking a few gulps.
“Alright, hurry up and go to sleep,” Nanshan said briskly as she headed for the door.
“I hope next year on my birthday, you won’t be so dismissive. At least come up with your own well-wishing words.”
“I can’t even read, how could I come up with well-wishing words…”
After drinking the water, Sun Jin’s words became clearer.
Nanshan had already reached the door when she saw her mother glaring at her father.
So, with a forced smile, she said,
“Even though Dad is being unreasonable today, considering he’s the best father, Mom, please let him off this time.”
“Heh heh, little Nanshan says I’m the best dad…”
Sun Jin smirked, then looked at Liu Jin Hua.
After meeting her gaze, he shrunk back.
Liu Jin Hua didn’t want to argue with him.
She raised her head and instructed her daughter who was standing by the door, “I’ve heated some water and left it in your room. Go soak your feet to drive out the chill before going to bed.”
“Okay, Mom,” Nanshan answered obediently, but didn’t forget to comfort her.
“Mom, you should go to bed early too. Don’t worry about things that don’t matter. Trust me, everything will be fine!”
With that, before her parents could react, Nanshan quickly closed the door behind her.
“It will be fine~ It will be fine~ It will be fine~”
Nanshan hummed a song out of tune while repeating the last words she had said to her mother.
She briskly walked across the small yard to the west room door.
Just as she was about to push the door open and enter, a sudden gust of wind blew from behind her, causing her to instinctively turn around.
“It will be fine…”
Before she could finish her song, she turned around fully.
The strong wind disappeared in an instant, and in the small yard, five bridal sedan chairs appeared out of nowhere.
Each chair was different, but under the same cold moonlight, they all emitted a sinister glow.
“There is… there is… something…”
Nanshan swallowed silently, standing frozen for a moment before turning to run back into the house.
However, before she could even touch the door knocker, she felt herself float lightly and collapse.
Before losing consciousness, a highly literary four characters suddenly appeared in her mind—
Something bad is happening.